The present invention relates to power driven winches, and particularly to a light, portable winch driven by a small internal combustion engine.
It is well known to provide winches driven by electric motors powered by the electrical system of motor vehicles, and to have such winches equipped with mechanical devices for ensuring that cable is wound smoothly on the spool of such a winch. Such previously-known winches, however, haVe not been particularly useful in situations such as handling of small logs and similar objects which might be encountered by people cutting firewood in areas not easily reached by motor vehicles, and in moving objects which are not easily moved by hand but are not so heavy as to require the use of large powered equipment. While some winches of the size of a small wheelbarrow have been previously available, even such a winch is unsuitably large for use in some remote locations.
Provision should be made in a winch, even a small portable winch, for ensuring that cable can be wound smoothly upon the spool of the winch, in order to avoid burying turns of wire within previously wrapped turns of wire on the winch spool, because such burying of cable within previously wound turns may result in damage to the cable which would weaken it, making it unsafe for future use.
A winch needs an easily operable brake to help hold a load at a desired height when the motor is not actually winding cable inward, and it should be possible to lower a load as well as raise it, for a powered winch to be most practical.
Recently, winches have been made available which are adapted for being driven by a chainsaw engine. Such adaptations, however, have lacked certain desirable features, such as the ability to control both inhauling operation and lowering of a load conveniently. Additionally, in situations where a small portable winch may be needed, as in hauling wood as it is being cut into firewood, it would be extremely inconvenient to have to use a chainsaw motor to drive such a winch, since that use would make the chainsaw unavailable. Furthermore, while some chainsaws are equipped with brakes to stop rotation of the saw chain when the throttle is released, such a brake is not particularly well adapted to holding a load suspended by a winch driven by the chainsaw engine. A chainsaw is designed, finally, to be balanced when equipped with the normal chainsaw bar and chain, and mounting of an adapted winch to be driven by such a chainsaw's engine does not result in a balanced, easily handled power-driven winch.
What is needed therefore, is an improved power-driven portable winch which is light, well balanced, and includes for the sake of safety, a brake which can be used for controllably allowing cable to be unwound, control devices for the brake and to control the speed of operation of the winch, and provision for smoothly winding cable upon the cable spool or drum in order to avoid damage to the cable and avoid difficulty in unwinding the cable.